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Page 353 - Life and Letters' by Chevalier Bunsen I WAS born with an inward discord, the existence of which I can trace back to my earliest childhood; though it was afterward much aggravated by an education ill adapted to my nature, or rather by a mixture of such an education with no education at all. I did not conceal this from you in former days. Had I to choose my own endowments for another life on earth, I would not wish to possess greater facility in taking up impressions from the external world, in retaining...

Page 28 - Persian (of Count Ludolph, the Austrian minister, who was born at Constantinople, and whose father was an acquaintance of mine), and 12. Arabic, he taught himself; in Holland he learnt — 13. Dutch ; and again in Copenhagen — 14. Swedish, and a little Icelandic ; at Memel — 15. Russian; 16. Slavonic; 17. Polish; 18. Bohemian; and, 19. Illyrian. With the addition of Low German, this makes in all twenty languages. Forgive this effusion of my heart concerning my son. I did not mean to boast of...

Page 138 - ... periodicals exist now in multitudes ; but who could say that a third point has been sufficiently attended to — viz., " the ignorance of foreign languages, which prevails both in England and in France : in England the number of those who acquire a smattering of French is very small, and still smaller is the number of those who know enough of German to read a book in that language without considerable trouble

Page 85 - While I am ready to adopt any well-grounded opinion, my inmost heart revolts against receiving the judgments of others respecting persons, and whenever I have done so, I have bitterly repented of it.

Page 187 - ENVY you the recollections of your Italian journey. It is a hard thought to me, that I shall never see the land that was the theatre of deeds with which I may perhaps claim a closer acquaintance than any of my contemporaries. I have studied the Roman history with all the effort of which my mind has been capable in its happiest moments, and believe that I may assume that acquaintance without vanity. This history will also, if I write, form the subject of most of my works. . . . The sight of the works...

Page 179 - I did not tell you) a bombardment that evening : we only reckoned on a delay from the wind, which was high, and against the enemy. It appeared as if the negotiations would come to nothing. While this, and the general flight in the city toward our quarter, and the other less exposed parts, depressed us, and filled us with grief at the fate of our country, even the gloomy turbulence of the elements contributed to our dejection. My heart is heavy with what I have to tell you, or should have, if we could...

Page 175 - ... office to see that the archives were all packed up. On the way, and when there, I heard various reports that two, three, or more English ships had got aground, and that they were firing with such vehemence in order to escape being boarded. Meanwhile, the firing went on with redoubled violence : toward half-past two it quite died away, and only single shots fell from time to time. I went out then to gain intelligence. The streets had become perfectly silent, and only single hollow shots were to...

Page 177 - I cannot tell you anything about them, except that nothing had been decided yesterday, though Nelson himself was on shore. The truce will last at least till to-morrow morning. We must at all events be prepared for a bombardment. The worst is, the Crown batteries can be held no longer, and the enemy will scarcely expose his ships of the line, while he can bombard our docks, fleet, and city.

Page 177 - Thermopyke; but Thermopylae, too, laid Greece open to devastation The appearance of the city [after all was over] was terrible. Every place was desolate; there was nothing to be seen in the streets, but wagons loaded with goods to be carried to some place of safety, a silence as of the grave, faces covered with tears, the full expression of the bleeding wound given us by our defeat.

Page 114 - Upon the occasion of a visit to Westminster Abbey, he says he looked with reverence and gratitude upon the busts of so many great men. •• But how characteristic is the equally honourable position accorded to so many nameless and insignificant persons by the side of the noblest dead ! What a quantity of nonsense...